A strange peculiarity || Enoch O'Connor

chapter thirty seven

The group awoke outside the loop, drenched in water and in pain, but alive. They had succeeded in their mission and now all there was for them to do was pick themselves up and figure out what to do next.

It didn't take long for one of them to realise that they had been outside the loop for a while and no one had aged a second.

"Is everyone alright?" Miss Peregrine asked as she helped Miss Wren up off the ground.

"Miss P we haven't aged!" Olive exclaimed excitedly.

"What happened?" Caspar asked, shaking water from his hair.

"I believe when the loop collapsed and the library fell, it somehow reset your body clocks, so you are now the ages you look again." Miss Wren said as she helped the other two ymbrynes off the floor.

"Incredible, we aren't confined to the loop anymore!" Jeanette said with excitement. "We can go wherever we like."

"And do what we want." Enoch added thoughtfully.

"You are still my wards, I am still in charge of you." Miss Peregrine told them, the group had gone so long without being under the jurisdiction of authority that her words were a shock to their systems.

"We aren't." Ethan pointed out to her, the others agreeing with him.

"I believe this is where our paths diverge, as we are going to go our own way." Jeanette said.

"It is dangerous for you to be on your own children, please consider staying with us." Miss Wren told them.

"After all we have faced, I believe fervently the world had changed. It is not as it once was and neither are we. I think its time we move on." Jeanette replied.

"Miss Eagle is dead and our family is ready to explore the world." Melanie added, one of her wings was broken and torn, but she looked happier than she had for a while.

"Alright, but I want updates on your wellbeing, please." Miss Peregrine knew she had no choice in the matter and just hoped they would be okay in the world alone. She knew her peculiar children would want to remain with her, at least most of them, but all of the children had changed, and she knew that.

"Of course, we have no intention of losing contact with our friends." Aimee said, knowing that the journey they had shared had forged bonds between them.

"Alright." Miss Wren agreed as well, not particularly comfortable at the prospect.

"Jenny! We're free!" Alice exclaimed as she ran over to the older girl dragging Nathan with her.

"Indeed we are." Jeanette smiled.

^^^
After a celebration, a sombre goodbye and finding themselves some clean clothes, Miss Eagles peculiars, joined by Enoch, Horace and Klaus who were not about to go anywhere without them, stood as a group, deciding their next move.

Melanie and Leo sat a little ways on the group, pondering their situation and deciding where they wanted to go exploring. They were deep in conversation when Ethan walked up to them. "Leo can we talk for a minute?" He asked quietly, Leo looked at Melanie, who shrugged. Finally, he nodded.

"Alright."

When they were a little way away from the group, Ethan leant in to kiss him, startled when Leo pushed him away.

"No, I can't." He said, his thoughts seemed sporadic, as though he was having an internal battle. Ethan stood in shock, terrified he may finally lose Leo too.

"Leo please, I want to fix this." Ethans hand barely brushed Leo's cheek before he was pushed away again.

"After everything you've done! How do you expect me to trust you anymore? You're not the same Ethan I knew, and you haven't been for a while." Leo shook his head, forcing back the tears as he finally let out feelings he had been cooping up for a while and he even shocked himself by the raw truths he said.

Ethan sighed, biting his lip and trying to gain eye contact from the shorter boy. "I never wanted for you to get hurt Leo, I just wanted... I wanted her to suffer for what she'd done, poisoning you against me, you may not have realised, but she did. We never used to fight Leo, do you remember?" He let a tear go, unable to hold it back. "I thought that I could protect us if I helped them, I thought I was doing the right thing. I don't want to lose you Leo, please."

"Miss Eagle was never the problem Ethan, you were." Leo let out a shaky sigh before continuing. "I've changed too, we both have and we can maybe get to know each other again, but right now I need space."

"Leo please-"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do it." With that he walked away, back towards Melanie, who gave him a hug as though she knew exactly what the exchange between them was about, but then she probably did. Ethan felt alone, powerless and finally understanding the damage he had done.

^^^
After an intense amount of planning and much discussion, the group had finally decided on the journey they wanted to take together. They wanted to go travelling, to see the world and they wanted to do it together.

Jeanette and Enoch sat at the head of the group, with Stephan, Aimee, Melanie and Leo on one side and Evangeline, Horace, Cameron and Klaus on the other side. They had been elected as the designated responsible 'adults' of the group and were the ones to handle the finances and 'adulting' tasks of the trip.

"So we have decided to start our journey by taking a trip across the channel, as we are already in london and will be  travelling to Dover in a few months." Enoch announced as no one seemed to know where to start.

"Thank you Enoch." Jeanette smiled at him, she had been nominated as the designated speaker of the leaders of the group and hadn't known how to begin.

"We are going to explore much of Europe, but we must wait first, as the war ends tomorrow." Jeanette lowered her voice as she didn't want to be overheard by outsiders. "And we don't want to be caught up in anything."

"So what about money?" Caspar asked, he Nathan and Alice were in matching outfits and looked quite a picture together.

"Miss Eagle had a huge amount of funds in her bank account, and I've been using it since I left, and there is still a huge amount of money left, so I'll simply withdraw it." Evangeline answered slyly. They all had to smile at this, even Ethan, who was stood broodingly at the back of the group.

"So we thought we could go to France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Greece, before taking a boat to America and exploring there." Aimee told the group the plan, despite them all having discussed it moments ago.

"It will not be easy, but we will get through, for we have each other and we have always managed with that." Jeanette added, she caught Enoch's eye and smiled, he laughed and kissed her cheek, shaking his head at her. She always said the soppiest things, at least in his opinion.

"Now all we need to do is find accommodation, preferably out of the cities, I hate cities." Aimee cheered, it was an odd cheer, but made them laugh as they made their way to their new found loopless freedom.